TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is experiencing a salt crisis. This is very strange because Indonesia has easy access to the sun, sea, and coastlines more than most countries in the world. In fact, we know, that just by evaporating seawater that depends on the three components, salt can be made.
The signs of a salt crisis have been seen from long ago. For example, since Eid al-Fitr, the price of salt has almost never dropped again as usual. The price actually continues to soar and has now increased four times. Or, just look at the signs of national needs and production of salt.
Indonesia needs 4.3 million tons of salt per-year, including the industrial salt with sodium chloride (NaCl) content of above 97 percent or consumption salt with its NaCl content below it. A total of 1.8 million tons of which are supplied domestically, mostly for consumption salts that are now scarce.
Since the beginning of the year, supply from the domestic fields has been dragged. In the salt fields owned by PT Garam in Sumenep, for example, the salt production in May-June was only 50 tons, while it can usually reach 2,500 tons.
So what is the reason behind Indonesia’s salt crisis?
